Battlefield 1 Uses Challenges and Collectibles to Teach You About the Great War

A great way to learn more about World War One

I think, as gamers, we have a love hate relationship with collectibles. We all know that some games use them arbitrarily to extend play time without any real benefit (I’m looking at you Assassin’s Creed). Other games use them in an endearing way to flesh out a world or story that you are a part of (the Bioshock series does this well, hauntingly well).

It has been revealed that Battlefield 1 has quite a fun and educational way to try to encourage people to get all the “collectibles” in its new shooter.

Some of you will probably know this, but there is a reason that Call of Duty games have traditionally released in November, and it isn’t just for the Christmas rush. It used to be because it was near Remembrance day, a day in the calendar where we remember all those who fell in battle during the wars that plagued the 20th Century. I alluded to the fact that Call of Duty games used to be about reminding us about the horrors of war in a recent Psychology of a Gamer post, though as we know that this message seems to have been forgotten or dropped as the series progressed.

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The motto for Remembrance Day is “Lest We Forget.” For me, I worry that as most survivors pass away as time pushes forward, that we will forget that a 100 years ago we were in one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history; the Battle of the Somme taking place in 1916, killing or wounding over 1 million men in just four months. So it is reassuring that Battlefield 1 is set in World War One, furthermore, the new ‘Codex’ adds to the reassurance.

Finding a great video on YouTube, redditors have shared Flakfire’s discussion around Battlefield 1‘s attempt to give players more detail on World War One. By completing challenges (or finding collectibles) in the game, such as making a certain number of kills with a particular weapon, the Codex will unlock extra information how that weapon and how it was used in the war. Some of the things that happened and took place are probably quite hard to believe at times, which is why it is important we never forget.

Check out the video below:

I’m sure there will be achievements attached to finding all the collectibles, or unlocking all the codex entries, but I will be doing it to learn more about a war that changed a lot of things and impacted massively on where we are today.

What do you think of this idea? Should more games make an effort to teach more about their past and history in the way that games like Battlefield 1, Valiant Hearts and the old Call of Duty games did? Let us know in the comments below or on the RGM Forums.